Faceless
by AlkalineLeigh
Summary: Bella is a talented artist who's starting to get her career moving in the right direction. After a one night stand with a beautiful stranger, her life is forever changed. Will she be able to find the man she can't seem to forget about? Or will she be left struggling and alone, plagued by the what-if's of a life she could have had?
1. Chapter 1

**Faceless - Chapter 1**

For what seemed like the thousandth time, I dragged my eraser over the paper in front of me, trying to fix yet another mistake. No matter what I did, I couldn't get it right. The sun was just beginning to rise-I'd been up for hours now. Like most nights lately, I hadn't been able to sleep. Frustrated, I pulled the page out of my sketch book, crumpled it up, and hurled it across the room.

"I'll just start over...again..." I mumbled to myself. My ass was starting to go numb from sitting in the window seat for so long. I didn't really care, though. This was the only place I could really think. At least, it was the only place in my apartment. On the normal early mornings I would marvel at the rising sun, loving how each dawn looked different than the one before.

Now, everything had gone to shit.

I couldn't paint, sketch, or even doodle to save my life. I had projects waiting to be finished and new inquiries piling up, but _he_ was the only thing I could think about. Every time I closed my eyes, I remembered the way his voice sounded, how his skin felt against mine, how we moved together. I remembered how alive I felt that night. In fact, I could remember every detail about him...except for anything involving his face. Every contour of his beautiful body, from the neck down, was burned into my memory. I grabbed a pillow off the chair next to me and sat on it, which guaranteed me some semblance of comfort for the next couple of hours so I could continue to try and draw him.

I could say with certainty that he had wild, copperish hair, shocking green eyes, and that his name was Edward. The rest was all guesswork. I'd gone through four more sheets of paper and heard his velvet voice in my head countless times when my cellphone began buzzing on the coffee table across the room. I knew it was Alice; she was always the first one to call me in the mornings.

"Good morning sunshine!" she greeted.

"Hey," I said, trying to hide the exhaustion in my voice.

"So, before you come in this morning, I was hoping you could stop at the store and pick up a couple of things. We need more coffee, creamer, and paper towels for the kitchen, some printer paper, and tampons." Alice listed things off quickly. "Did you write that down, Bella?"

"Hmm?" I asked, trying to focus on what she was saying.

"Coffee, creamer, paper towels, printer paper, and tampons. I'd get them myself, but the electrician is coming by the office in a bit to fix the AC and heater. Are you even listening to me?" she asked, sounding irritated.

"Yeah, I heard you," I said, quickly scribbling down the list of items she'd just barked at me.

"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" she asked, her voice softening.

"I can't help it," I whined.

"Honey, it's been over a month now, and it was a one-night stand. I think it's time for you to either stop obsessing over him, or go out and find him. This is affecting your work life now, and it's not good."

I hated it when Alice chastised me.

"I know," I sighed. "I'm going to start working on some of my other projects today. I promise."

"You have a new commission from Newton, by the way. He's been very patient...still annoying as all hell, but he's brought us a lot of business."

She was right...unfortunately.

"Anyway, try to be here by noon today. And please, for the love of God, don't forget the tampons."

After showering off quickly, I pulled my messy hair up into a bun and threw some old jeans and a sweater on. There were definitely some perks to being an artist and working with my best friend. I couldn't remember the last time I had to get dressed up to go into the office, and really, I was leaving the makeshift studio in my apartment to go the studio in my office at work.

While I wandered through the grocery store, I found the coffee and creamer Alice requested, and then threw in some extra Cheetos and ramen packets just for the hell of it. I always had my own stash of snacks. I'd often told Alice that food was my inspiration. When I walked down the feminine hygiene aisle, I felt a strange, sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. My eyes scanned passed the many different packages of tampons and pads and landed on the small section of pregnancy tests.

"No..." I said out loud, fishing my phone out of my pocket. I opened up the calendar app and scanned through it, desperately trying to remember when the date of my last period was. I counted slowly, over and over again. Every time, the outcome was the same and I was forced to realize that my period was three weeks late. I couldn't understand how I hadn't noticed until now, but that didn't stop my hand from reaching out and grabbing the closest pregnancy test. In a rush, I grabbed the rest of the things off Alice's list, paid, and drove to the office in a daze.

I shoved the test in the front pocket on my jacket and shakily grabbed the rest of the shopping bags. The electrician was in Alice's office when I walked in, but she still called out to me.

"Did you get everything I asked you for?"

"Yeah," I replied, dryly and set the bags down in the doorway to the small kitchen. Before she could say anything else, I hurried past my studio and locked myself in the bathroom.

_There's no way,_ I chanted over and over again in my head. I turned the fan on, in an attempt to block out any noises Alice might hear on the other end of the door. She may have been my best friend, but she was also the nosiest person I'd even known.

I peed on the first test that came in the box, capped the stick and set it as far away from me as possible while I waited. For the duration of those ten minutes, I thought I was going to die. Beads of nervous sweat broke out across my forehead, and my hands shook in my lap. I decided to sit on them, in an attempt to try and calm down.

I may have been a twenty-five year-old with a fairly successful career, but I was in no way prepared to be a parent. Especially not a single parent. I didn't even know the man I'd last had sex with. That night was, without a doubt, the best of my entire life, but I was suddenly feeling extraordinarily guilty for allowing myself to be so irresponsible with a total stranger.

I thought about what he-Edward-might say if he were here with me right now and remembered the way his breath felt across my neck as he kissed me and told me I was beautiful. I couldn't explain it, but in the moments we were together that night, I felt like I'd known him my for whole existence. How pathetic was it that I couldn't even remember what he actually looked like? As I reached over to grab the test, I envisioned seeing only one line on the screen. I'd read about the power of positive thinking once somewhere.

But when I focused on the small screen in front of me, I didn't see one line, but two very bold ones. My throat constricted and my heart beat painfully in my chest. I was pregnant.

In that moment, every detail of Edward's inhumanly gorgeous face snapped into place in my mind, and I'd never felt so alone in my entire life.

* * *

Hello everyone! Yes...It's been an extremely long time since I've had anything to do on FF. But I've had a few ideas that seemed to just be taking on a lives of their own, so I decided to try and give this a shot again. I'm sure some people are going to think this storyline has become clichéd and overused, but I'd like to think I can do a good job at keeping things original. That's all I'm going to say about it, otherwise I'd be giving too much away (teehee).

As always, I appreciate any feedback you may have to give me. Please do tell me what you think! Many many thanks!


	2. Chapter 2

**Faceless - Chapter 2**

"How long have you known about this?" Alice asked, looking at me with a confused expression.

"Almost a week. I wanted some time to think before I told you," I confessed.

"Well, what are you going to do?"

I knew I could trust Alice with anything, even if she was nosey and overbearing most of the time. She was my best friend.

"I have a doctor's appointment today, so I'll be able to figure things out afterward. I don't want things to turn out like..."

"Renee." Alice finished the sentence for me.

"Yeah, like her."

When I was seven years old, my mother and father sat me down in the living room and told me I was going to be a big sister. They were so excited, and so was I. We went out for ice cream and I decided I wanted to have a little sister so we could play dress-up. Every morning, I'd say good morning to the baby and pat my mom's stomach, hoping that it would grow into a girl instead of a boy.

Weeks later, Mom was in the hospital, but she didn't come home with a baby. Instead, she came home with cancer. I was angry with her and my dad, because all I'd wanted was someone to play with. I hated being an only child-I was alone all the time. But then I noticed how sick she was.

When I was old enough to understand, Charlie eventually told me what really happened. She'd had an ectopic pregnancy, and when they found out about it, they also discovered that she had uterine cancer, which was quickly metastasizing.

She died when I was ten.

"I was hoping you could go with me..." I said, feeling small. I was terrified, but with Alice, I didn't need to say it out loud. She already knew.

"Of course, we'll just take the day off together. I'll cancel everything else."

A few hours later, we were sitting in the strangely comfortable waiting room with a few other women who were obviously pregnant and showing. I stared at them all nervously, and tried to focus on filling out all of the paperwork on the clipboard I was holding.

"You can't be very far along, right?" Alice asked, quietly. "Probably only like four or five weeks?"

"I don't know, it was almost two months ago," I muttered back. "I guess we'll just have to wait and find out."

I got up and handed my clipboard to the receptionist. She smiled up and me and, though I thought I smiled back, I'm sure it came out more as a grimace. No more than five minutes later, a nurse called my name and Alice and I were led into a medium-sized room. The nurse was quiet, but she took my vitals and asked me to give a urine sample. She showed me where the bathrooms were and instructed me to change into of the provided gowns when I was finished.

It was frustrating how slow time was moving.

By the time I heard a knock on the closed examination room door, I was ready to jump out of my skin. The door opened and a beautiful doctor with caramel colored hair poked her head into the room.

"Bella?" she asked, with a soft, kind voice.

"Yes, that's me," I said, looking up at her and attempting to smile again. She reached out and shook my hand, then Alice's.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Dr. Cullen. So, what brings you in today?" she asked, hopefully routinely. I bit my lip nervously, eyeing the manilla envelope she'd placed on the countertop.

"Um...I think I'm pregnant?"

She nodded in agreement. "Well, I believe you are, but we should take some of your vitals first and go over a few things before we make a definite diagnosis. Sound good?"

"Sure," I said, trying to swallow my fear.

"When was your last period?" she asked, sitting down next to Alice began scribbling notes down on her chart.

"I think the last day was April 30th, but I might be off a day or two."

"Okay, so you've definitely missed a period. And I'm assuming you took a home pregnancy test. Is that correct?" She looked up at me, and I instantly felt more comfortable under her warm gaze.

"Yes, I did. It was positive."

"From what I can tell based off the paperwork you filled out, you seem to have a pretty clean family history as far as any illnesses and diseases go. You did, however, mark down that you have a history of cancer. Can you explain that to me?"

"My mother died of uterine cancer," I answered. "They found it when she had an ectopic pregnancy, but it was pretty far progressed by then."

She nodded and made one last scribble on her chart, then moved towards me. "Well, Bella, I think it's safe to say you are pregnant. Your urine sample was confirmation enough, but I like to talk with my patients as well just to see what's going on. I'd like for us to do a transvaginal ultrasound. We might be able to get a clearer picture of the baby this way, and we'll probably be able to predict a due date at this point. Depending on how far along you actually are, we may even be able to hear a heartbeat. Will that be alright with you?"

"That's fine," I said, even though my knees were suddenly clamping together. Dr. Cullen stood up and moved a machine from across the room right next to the bed I was sitting on. As she prepared everything, Alice walked over to the other side of the bed and held my hand.

"Okay, we're ready to begin now." Initially, I winced, and when Alice noticed, she gave me a reassuring squeeze.

"What's good about this ultrasound is that I can also get a good idea of how your ovaries are doing and we can tell if you have anything else to be concerned about. Considering your mother's history, it could be very beneficial," Dr. Cullen explained.

"Okay, it might not look like much, but there it is," she said, smiling.

She turned the monitor toward us and flipped a small switch. After turning the monitor towards us, be began working with the machine again.

All I could make out was a dark blob in the middle of a blurry looking picture. And yet, I felt an odd pressure in my chest, almost like I was going to cry. I had a hard time grasping the fact that the blob inside of me was going to grow into my baby.

"I think we'll be able to hear the heartbeat too," she said, moving things around a bit more. "Ah, there we go."

A tiny, rapid echoing sound filled the room. All of the air in my lungs rushed out in a whirl.

"That's it's heart?" I squeaked. She nodded, giving us some time to just listen.

"Now, going based off when your last period was and the measurements of the fetus, I'm going to say you're just shy of eight weeks. Everything else looks good though, Bella. You don't have any ovarian cysts or foreign masses. I'd still like for you to get some lab work done before you leave today." She cleaned up the machine and wrote more things down on her chart, giving me some time to get comfortable again.

"When is her due date?" Alice asked, speaking up for the first time.

"It's tentative right now, and I'll probably be able to give you a more specific answer once we get her lab results back, but as of now we're looking at some time around January 26th."

I sat up on the bed, pulling the gown back around me.

"Do you have any questions for me, Dear?" Dr. Cullen asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Should I start taking any prenatal vitamins, or do I need to start doing things differently? I'm still not sure what I'm even going to do..."

"Ah," she said, sitting up straighter in her chair. "You should start taking your vitamins immediately. Now, as I'm sure you know, you do have the choice to terminate your pregnancy. That's a very difficult and personal decision to make, but until you do know what course of action you're going to take, I would like you to take the vitamins anyway. This is a critical time for a developing fetus. Aside from that, make sure you're drinking plenty of water and sleeping regularly. Eat healthy, balanced meals. Basically, just make sure you're taking care of yourself."

"So this isn't an ectopic pregnancy? The baby's healthy?"

"As of now, everything looks good. It is not can always change, and you do need to be prepared for that, but for now it looks like you have a healthy, growing baby on the way."

"Thank you, Dr. Cullen," I sighed, feeling relieved.

"My pleasure. I'd like to see you back here in about a month. You can schedule your appointment up front with Heidi," she said, and excused herself out of the room. As soon as she left, Alice squealed.

"It's so cute!"

"It's a blob, Allie."

"But a cute blob! We should name it!"

I reached forward toward the counter and grabbed my clothes off of it. "Go ahead," I sighed.

She was suddenly quiet. I pulled my pants on, trying to ignore the fact that I still felt sticky from the ultrasound.

"I'm sorry, Bell...I wasn't thinking. I know you still have some difficult decisions to make, and I hope you know I'll support you. I- I'll be there for you if you don't keep it, and I'll be the really cool aunt if you decide you do want to. Okay?"

"I think there's coffee shop downstairs on the first floor or something. Can we stop a get a drink after I get my lab work done?" I asked, shrugging on my sweater. In Seattle, the June gloom was laying on thick.

"Well, there's a coffee stand outside, yeah. But you get decaf."

Downstairs, I ordered a hot chocolate and tried to convince myself there was caffeine in it. I grimaced when I thought about having to get used to this. We sat down on a small bench and I relaxed as the sun hit my face. Alice was dying to ask me questions, I could see it in her every move.

"I can't not keep it," I said, with my eyes closed. When I felt her tiny arms wind around my shoulders, I knew that was all I had to say for now. We both sat for a few moments, and the other questions I had for myself seemed to become more crowded in my head. Like they were screaming at me.

Alice's cell phone ringing interrupted my thoughts and she fumbled around trying to answer it.

"Damn it, it's Emmett," she sighed. "What do you want Em? I'm kinda busy right now?"

I looked down at my stomach, imagining what was going on inside of it. I could no longer deny that there was something alive and growing inside of me. I'd heard it and seen it with my own eyes. I kept waiting for feel something other than shock.

"I don't give a shit about the damn cake right now!" she hissed. "Your appointment isn't for a couple of hours anyway, so who cares?"

Emmett was getting married to a now close friend of ours, Rosalie. When he'd first introduced her to us, we had a hard time seeing things work out between them. Rosalie didn't look like much more than a tall, blonde, supermodel. It didn't take long for us to figure out that she was extremely smart and kind hearted. And a veterinarian.

"Fine. Whatever, I'll be there in a couple of hours." She hung up the phone. She threw it angrily back into her purse and sighed.

"Everything okay?" I asked, preparing to hear her rant.

"I have to go meet Rose for a cake tasting. Emmett got caught up at the high school and he has to run practice late, so he can't make it. God, if I had known agreeing to be Maid of Honor would consist more of filling in for the groom than planning the wedding, I would have _never _done it!"

I laughed quietly and shook my head. "Go ahead, I'll drop you off at home so you can take your car and meet her. I need to run an errand anyway."

After I'd dropped Alice off, I drove toward the cemetery where my mother was buried. I hadn't been to see her in a while, but I thought now would be a good time to talk. I'd made it a point to go see her at least every couple of months, but lately, I'd been busy with work...and life.

I leaned against her headstone and immediately apologized for not bringing flowers. The more time I spent talking to her, the clearer things became in my head. I asked her all of my questions, knowing I wouldn't really get any answers back.

Instead, I felt a light breeze and a few strands of my hair blew across my face. That was how I knew she was listening. In those moments, things didn't seem so scary any more, and I didn't feel as alone. But more importantly, I knew exactly what I had to do.

* * *

Thank you to everyone who reviewed and sent me their thoughts and opinions. I really appreciate it! So...when do you think Edward's going to show up now? It'll be soon, I promise. Otherwise, I'd just be really lame.


End file.
